UK records highest daily COVID-19 death toll since April

The latest figures were revealed as British Health Secretary Matt Hancock predicted Thursday that England's latest national lockdown will be the last full shutdown to tackle the COVID crisis as the country continues to roll out vaccines.

Hancock also predicted that vaccines and coronavirus testing would still be part of life during 2022.

"There is absolutely no doubt that vaccines and testing will still be a feature next year," he told the health committee of the House of Commons, lower house of parliament.

"We will need both the surveillance testing to be able to understand where the virus is and we will need testing for people who have symptoms, in the same way that you get tested for all sorts of other things," he said.